Little Stars Read online

  Diamond’s right hand dug into my shoulder as she shifted her weight and managed to free her left hand to wave. I took my own left hand off the handlebars, steering as steadily as I could, and waved too. Then we pedalled off into the wings.

  Mrs Ruby clapped. I steadied Diamond, helped her clamber down, and jumped off the penny-farthing myself. We ran back on stage hand in hand and curtsied.

  ‘Well done, girlies!’ said Mrs Ruby. She stood up and clapped more.

  ‘Oh, Diamond, she likes us!’ I said, hugging her.

  Mrs Ruby edged her way along the row of seats and hurried up the steps onto the stage, still clapping.

  ‘Diamond, you were superb. A true little star,’ she said, patting her on the head.

  I smiled proudly and squeezed Diamond’s hand.

  ‘So who devised this new act?’ asked Mrs Ruby.

  ‘Hetty did,’ said Diamond. ‘She made it all up and got me to learn it, and we practised all the tricks on the penny-farthing again and again. She said we had to be absolutely perfect if we got another chance to perform for you.’

  ‘She’s a shrewd little sweetheart, then.’ Mrs Ruby nodded at me. ‘I reckon you’re a little star too. You’re a young woman after my own heart. You watched my show and worked out exactly what would work. And it’s paid off. You start on Monday. Pop into my room before the performance and we’ll sign a contract. Ten shillings a week for your double act. Does that suit you?’

  ‘It suits us splendidly!’ I said. ‘Thank you so much!’

  ‘Thank you, dear. I look forward to my new dress.’

  ‘I shall look at Miss Gibson’s latest patterns from Paris and bring you a selection to choose from,’ I said. ‘It will be the dress of your dreams!’

  Mrs Ruby laughed again and waved us away.

  Once we were off the stage I picked Diamond up and whirled her round. ‘We’ve done it, Diamond! We’ve actually done it. We really are going to be music-hall artistes!’

  ‘We’re Little Stars! Madame Adeline would love that,’ said Diamond. ‘Oh, will you write and tell her, Hetty? Maybe she and Mr Marvel will come to see us perform!’

  ‘And all the little monkeys too? How they will clap their tiny paws!’ I said.

  I capered about like a monkey myself I was so happy. I only calmed down when we got near grumpy old Stan.

  We rode the penny-farthing home. Miss Gibson was busy with a customer and could only nod at us, but the moment she’d finished her fitting she rushed into the back room and exclaimed joyfully when we told her the good news.

  I was a little worried that she’d be cross with me for promising Mrs Ruby a new dress, especially as I was nowhere near as skilled as she was, but she didn’t mind at all.

  ‘Don’t you worry, dear. I’ll give you a hand with it,’ she said generously. ‘And now that you’re going to be a Cavalcade girl, perhaps you can put in a good word for me with the other artistes? Especially Lily Lark? How I’d love to dress her!’

  ‘I’ll work on it, Miss Gibson, just you wait and see,’ I promised. ‘And I’ll still act as your apprentice during the day. That’s what’s so wonderful about this job – it’s only evening work and yet it’s quite well paid.’

  ‘Can I get a new china dolly now?’ Diamond asked eagerly.

  ‘Very soon, I promise.’

  ‘And you’re the woman who keeps her promises, remember!’ she said. ‘Oh, I can’t wait to tell Bertie. He’ll be so pleased for us.’

  I enjoyed telling him too. His whole face lit up and he danced a funny little jig. ‘There, girls! You lengthened the act, gave it some novelty, just as I suggested! And I was right, wasn’t I?’ he said.

  ‘Oh yes, it was all down to you, Bertie. I dare say you wrote the script and trained Diamond too,’ I said sarcastically, but he seemed so genuinely delighted for us that I couldn’t carp for long.

  ‘We’ll go out on Sunday to celebrate,’ he said.

  ‘All of us?’ asked Diamond.

  ‘Of course,’ said Bertie, but when she’d run off to fashion a dress for her doll Maybelle out of Miss Gibson’s scraps, he shook his head and sighed. ‘I was really hoping Miss Gibson would look after little Diamond so that you and I could walk out together, Hetty,’ he murmured.

  I smiled and shrugged, not sure how to react. My heart was beating very fast again. I couldn’t understand why I felt so stupidly shy with Bertie now. We’d been such easy friends before. He’d kissed me on the cheek once, and that had seemed perfectly normal and natural, but now the very thought made me blush.

  Still, I was determined not to go all moony-eyed over Bertie. I had to focus on our act. We had to keep it polished and up to standard. So I worked us very hard indeed every morning, trying to devise new acrobatic tricks for Diamond, while making sure that the routine went like clockwork. Diamond didn’t complain, but she had violet shadows under her eyes and equally vivid bruises on her arms and legs from inadvertent tumbles. I felt dreadful, almost as cruel as Beppo, but I was even harder on myself. I let Diamond have the afternoons off. She played dressing up with discarded material, did a little ‘stitching’ for Maybelle, and lay on her tummy kicking her legs while I told her a story as I worked.

  I’d started on the dress for Mrs Ruby. She’d chosen an amazing flame-orange satin with a gold slub thread. I privately thought it a little garish even for the stage, but I told her that it was a wonderful choice: she’d shine like the sun itself – which seemed to please her. Miss Gibson helped me with the cutting out – my hands shook as I scissored the material because it had been very expensive. Miss Gibson had had to loan me some money until I received my first Cavalcade wage. She made sure I didn’t pin any material inside out or back to front, and checked all my tacking on the complex pieces. Then I started on the sewing. I made each stitch minute because I knew Mrs Ruby was a terrible stickler. I pulled every seam when it was finished to check it for strength.

  It would take days and days to complete: there were big bunchy sleeves that had to be gathered to fit into the bodice, and the skirt was another nightmare, hanging smooth at the front but bunched at the back. I needed to concentrate hard, but I managed to tell Diamond stories at the same time.

  I was word perfect on Thumbelina. Mama had given me the story when I was at the Foundling Hospital, and I had read it every night for years. I remembered other fairy stories read aloud to us by dear Nurse Winnie and recited them to Diamond, and then made up elaborate variations of my own. I amused myself with fairy-tale alternatives, talking of beautiful princesses who were secretly evil and cruel, slapping their baby sisters and kicking their kittens. I invented hideous witches who were sweet as honey and soft as butter, handsome princes who ran in fear when attacked by dragons, gentle giants who cradled children in their massive hands, and scrawny servant girls who sailed the seven seas and became queens of all the pirates.

  Diamond enjoyed all my stories, but the one she liked best was utterly prosaic. It was about two little girls called Hatty and Twinkle. Hatty had red hair and Twinkle had fair hair. They were dear sisters and lived with their mama and papa in a small house in the country. Hatty and Twinkle played all day, and then Papa read them stories and Mama tucked them up in bed, and they cuddled up close and went to sleep. That was it. The simplest story in the whole world, but Diamond wanted to hear it again and again, and protested if I ever tried to make Hatty and Twinkle go for a walk into the woods or ride on a farmer’s donkeys or visit the seaside. She wanted Hatty and Twinkle to stay safe inside their house. She certainly didn’t want them to run away and become music-hall artistes.

  I worried about her, knowing that I was forcing her to perform when she didn’t really want to, but she seemed happy enough. She was always ecstatic when Bertie popped into the dress shop. He sat cross-legged like a mini tailor, telling us all sorts of stories about the other artistes. He seemed a little too keen to convince me that Ivy Green was a perfect sweetheart.

  ‘Your sweetheart, I gather,’ I said crisply.